It is hard to resist a snigger over the way Rita Verdonk and her new party TON have fallen victim to a wealthy sponsor who has, so far at least, not come up with the €135,000 he promised.

Verdonk refused to leak the identity of the mystery benefactor who had so generously bought up all the tickets to her launch party and then gave them back. It’s probably just as well.
If it had been known at the time just who was putting so much money – according to the Telegraaf, he does not have the most upstanding of backgrounds – a few more critical questions might have been asked. And that would have taken some of the gloss off Verdonk’s big night.
More worrying about the whole affair is what it says about Verdonk and her organisation. The benefactor, known in the media as Nick van der L (which makes him sound like a crook to start with), apparently met her officials twice but never handed over a cheque.
Her spokesman Kay van der Linde says Verdonk’s new party is all about trust, and that she trusts everyone until it proves otherwise.
On the one hand you could see this as a charming position, a breath of fresh air in an increasingly cynical political system.
On the other, it betrays an alarming naivety and a reckless sense of self-importance in someone who has made no secret of her desire to become prime minister.